The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-08-15

STORIES OF CRIMINALS.
AN EXAMPLE OF HONESTY is THE
BEST POLICY"

mate Vocation"-No Pardon.
We have at the New York state reform
atOry Il casuistry class. One morning the
teacher said: Now, boys, / would like
to get your opinion whether, from the
standpoint of moral casuistry, honesty is
! the best policy, after all " One of those
fellows answered: Il believe that honesty
is the best policy, though I am not an
honest man myself. | know two fellows
in New York, who used to be crooks, and
were always getting into trouble, but they
reformed and got in luck. They went
over to Philadelphia and went into the
clothing business, first as clerks, and they
kept right along for eight or nine years,
and finally they got to own an establish
ment, and people had confidence in them,
and they got credit to the extent of $780,
600, and they got away with the whole
of it,
When in the Ohio penitentiary one day,
the wife of a prisoner, an accomplished
New England lady, handsome, cultivated,
irresistible-tO the chaplain, anyhow
solicited my offices to go with her to the
governor to ask for his pardon. l had to
say to her: ''NO, madam, there are hun
dred men here more deserving of a par
don than your husband. | will introduce
you to the governor, but will not intercede
for the pardon of your husband. - l took
the precautiOn to go to the governor in ad-
vance, and explain to him the situation
She presented a certificate from the prison
physician. The governor read it slowly:
Charles W, convicted, at such a time
and place, of the crime of larceny of q
horse and buggy, is now under conviction
for his first Otfense, and he is in imminent
danger of C-e-r-e-b r-O-spinal-m-e-n-
menin-mening-i-t-i-S. - At once he eX-
claimed: Good heavensl has he got all
bots I u ~, H.
the necessary papers for the prisoners re-
lease. 1t required four men to hold him
in the prison hospital, and four men to
take him from the hospital to the carriage
A half an hour later l found him lying in
bed in the fourth story of a hotel, having
walked up stairs without any assistance
whatever
A HUNDRED BURGLARTES.
/ once had the pleasure of making a
visit, with the governor of the state of
Illinois, to the penitentiary at Joliet
There was confined in it at the time very
noted burglar from the city of Chicago
The governor had promised that he would
have some conversation with him in re
gard to an aIibi which he claimed to be
able to prove, and which would establish
his innocence of the crime of which he had
been convicted. | had some impression of
the character of this man when [ saw the
in his desk, take out a revolver, and put
it in his pocket. The prisoner was brought
in, and the governor listened to the tale of
his alibi. At its conclusion he inquired:
Glow many burglaries have you ever
committed"
Il don't know, governor. l never kept
count. | suppose about a hundred
you have been q very bad man."
'WhO says so, gOvernor?'
The Governor talEau hot
aback, and answered: ''The newspapers. -
''Why, governor, l have seen your
name in the newspapers once or twice.
Ii they will say such things about a man
in your position, what must be expected
of a man i'll mine?''
He went on to remark that he need
have no hesitation in granting him par
don, for, though he made no professions
of repentance-it would be absurd to do
that-he had come to the conclusion,
while in prison. that a life of crime does
not pay. He had tried it. He had been
all his life a burglar, he had robbed
banks, he had had hundreds of thousands
of dollars pass through his hands and ne
was Just as poor as when he began: and,
having come to that conclusion, he felt
that the governor might safely release
him, since he fully meant to quit the
business and follow some other pursuit
for a living.
A LEGITIMATE VOCATION.
Rut. in so far as burglary in itself was
concerned, he wished him to understand
that he regarded it as just as legitimate
a vocation in life as the practice of law
or of medicine-Or the preaching of the
Gospel.
The governor asked: ''How do you
make that out?''
''Why, property has certain rights,
powers and privileges. 1t must have
corresponding obligations and the first
duty Of property is to take care of itself.
If in a country neighbOrhOOd there are
three stores doing a general business, and
there is not business enough to support
more than two merchants families, what
happens? Two of those merchants COM
bine against the third, and by judiciOus
application of the laws of trade, they
drive him out of business and divert to
their own pockets the profits which he
otherwise would have made. Everybody
says that is right Now, what difference
does it make whether this is done by
iudcious use of the laws of trade or by a
more summary process? Why, governor,
you know very well that there are a great
many men in this world who are rich who
have TO more right to what they have
than you or l.
do l understand, said the governor,
''that you confne yourself in your depre-
datiOns to that class of peoples
ooh, - he replied, Il aim to- aim to.
The last man ] robbed was q member of
congress"
1t is needless to say that the governor
did not pardon him. He served his term,
has since served a term in the Eastern
penitentiary of Pennsylvania. and is IN
derstOod now to be in the Virginia peni-
Tertiary at Richmond. - International
Record.
Women a Meat Inspectors.